first time Sewell threw the blooper in a game was in an exhibition match against the Detroit Tigers. Sewell described the reaction of the Detroit batter, Dick Wakefield: "He started to swing, he stopped, he started again, he stopped, and then he swung and missed it by a mile. I thought everybody was going to fall off the bench, they were laughing so hard." Williams' home run in the 1946 All Star game Perhaps Sewell's most famous blooper pitch came in the 1946 All Star game against Ted Williams. Sewell warned Williams before the game he was going to throw him the blooper. With the American League ahead 8–0, Williams came to bat, and Sewell nodded, indicating the blooper was coming. Williams fouled off the first blooper. Sewell nodded again, and threw another blooper and then another. With the count 1–2, Williams hit the blooper for a home run—the only home run ever hit off Sewell's blooper pitch. As Williams rounded the bases, Sewell followed him, saying, "the only reason you hit it was because I told you it was coming." Williams laughed, the fans loved it, and Sewell received a standing ovation when he walked off the mound. Critic of the players' union Sewell was a critic of the American Baseball Guild, the players' union that attempted to organize after World War II. In June 1946, he led Pirate players against the union, and was reported as saying that he was "glad the owners had finally told these ungrateful players where to get off. First they wanted the hamburger, then filet mignon, eventually the cow and the entire pasture." See also List of Major League Baseball annual wins leaders References Further reading Honig, Donald (1975) Baseball When the Grass Was Real: Baseball from the Twenties to the Forties Told by the Men Who Played It. New York: Coward, McGann & Geoghegan. pp. 248–257. . External links Rip Sewell at Baseball Library Baseball Page on Sewell Excerpts from Donald Honig, "Baseball When the Grass Was Real" 1907 births 1989 deaths American shooting survivors baseball players from Alabama Beaumont Exporters players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Detroit Tigers players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Nashville Vols players National League All-Stars National League wins champions Pittsburgh Pirates coaches Pittsburgh Pirates players Seattle Indians players sportspeople from Decatur, Alabama Toledo Mud Hens players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players